Jobless rate falls

There has been a surprise fall in Australian unemployment, adding to hopes that the economy might sidestep the worst of the global recession.

The jobless rate fell to 5.4 per cent seasonally adjusted in April, from 5.7 per cent in March, defying expectations from most economists of a rise to 5.9 per cent.

The number of people in jobs rose by 27,300 to 10.7 million in April. Full time employment rose by 49,100 to 7.6 million while part time employment fell 21,800 to 3.1 million.

The unexpected result, which follows yesterday's strong retail figures for March, puts calls for further interest rate cuts into doubt and suggests the economic outlook might not be as dismal as first thought.

Macquarie Group's interest rate strategist Rory Robertson has described the outcome as good news.

"It means employment is not deteriorating as badly as it seemed just a month ago. On the face of it, it suggests Australia's recession might not be as deep or long as first feared," Mr Robertson said.

"The RBA will be on hold for the next couple of months, though recessions do tend to be lengthy affairs and there's plenty of scope for bad news down the track."

Other economists, such as Helen Kevans of JP Morgan, are sceptical about the better than expected figures.

"It is a big surprise. We're really taking it with a grain of salt," Ms Kevans said.

"We've counted through media announcements and the like, with about 60,000 job losses over the last few months alone. So it is really hard to believe 27,000-odd jobs were created last month."

"We do think employment will continue to contract throughout 2009. The leading indicators of employment have been falling off a cliff, so we do think labour market conditions will continue to weaken.

"We are going to see that unemployment rate rise quite sharply over the second half of the year."

The Australian dollar jumped half a cent to a seven-month high to 75.5 US cents on the expectation that official interest rates will remain on hold.

In New South Wales the unemployment rate has eased from 6.8 per cent in March to 6 per cent in April in seasonally-adjusted terms.

In Victoria the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.6 per cent in April.

In Queensland the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 per cent in April to 4.9 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms.

In South Australia the unemployment rate dropped from 5.9 per cent to 5.5 per cent in April in seasonally adjusted terms.

In Western Australia the unemployment rate dropped from 4.9 per cent in March to 4.5 per cent in April in seasonally adjusted terms.

In the Northern Territory, the unemployment rate was steady at 4.1 per cent in April in trend terms. The number of people out of work rose.

In the ACT, the unemployment rate has risen from 2.7 to 2.8 per cent, in trend terms. The number of people looking for work has also risen.

In Tasmania the unemployment rate jumped from 4.4 per cent in March to 6 per cent in April in seasonally adjusted terms. In trend terms, the unemployment rate rose from 5 per cent to 5.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate has also fallen by two percentage points to 22. 8 per cent. That means there are currently 68,000 teenagers aged between 15 and 19 looking for full-time work.